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About the Artist - Carly Swallow

I am an English artist/ creative designer. I've grown up on the south coast of England and now live on the edge of The New Forest, Hampshire, on the border with Dorset.

I get inspired everyday noticing things that I love, cultures, colour, textures, materials, drift wood, flowers, nature and just everything that my eyes fall upon.

I'm an old romantic and I love the romance of working with roses. I don't like the idea of throwing them away once they start to look sad or their petals drop. I like to prolong the love affair by turning them into something beautiful.

Vintage inspires me. I love vintage furniture, materials, crochet, doilies, broderie anglais, lace and old leather.

I get completely captivated by red dresses and the energy, the beauty, the feeling that goes with wearing one or watching someone dancing wearing a red dress. The same goes for the warm fuzzy feeling in your tummy from a beautiful pair of shoes.

I love henna. I've doodled henna type designs since I was a child, I think it is a beautiful art. My art often has a certain feel to it of this.

My Dad is a super talented carpenter, a complete inspiration. As a kid I used to love going to work with him to 'help' him. His love of woodwork has rubbed off. I also love driftwood and the idea that it must have story to tell of how it came to be at the destination where it was found.

I'm on my only little journey through life like everyone else is. I like learning of past wisdom, and I'm captivated by people's minds, the way they think and see the world. Reading quotes is like looking at the world through someone else's eyes. I love this. Through my art I try and pass on past and present wisdom that has touched my heart or moved me in some way. My own personal journey is ongoing and forever evolving, as is my art.

I make things that I love, that I hope that you will fall in love with too or that will inspire you in some way, however big or small.

Everything that I make is handmade with love.

Love should be the essence of everything thing that you say and do, every thought, every action, every process.

Love is the essence of life.